A Town Like Alice

By: Nevil Shute

Narrated by: Neil Hunt

Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Eight hundred women and children begin a 1,200-mile journey on foot across Japanese-occupied Malaya. At journey’s end, only 30 will still be alive. This is the story of one woman, of her ordeal, and of how she was saved by the sacrifice of an Australian soldier. It is a story of rare individual courage in the face of certain death, and hope in the face of despair.

©1950 William Morrow & Co, Inc. (P)1990 Recorded Books

4 stars

an all time favorite and an all time classic- great story - Neal Hunt is incredible!

A very good story.

A great story without the crude language that so many of today's books have. Thank you!

A feel-good book you would not regret reading

Based on some historical facts with a healthy addition of fiction this book makes for a very enjoyable reading. The story is very interesting and engaging. I learned a bit about Japanese invasion of Malaysia and a bit about life in outback Queensland after the WWll.

Racist story perhaps best remembered or Abridged

I remembered loving this book when I picked it up somewhere in college - but my guess is that I read an updated and abridged version. It’s true time ravages memory but I’ve always been sensitive to racism, even in context and just as I don’t remember much of the drama that takes place in Australia (frankly I remember it ending there and not taking up half the book), I do not remember the characterization of the Indigenous Australians. My guess is ai read an abridged book. The narration is excellent and the first half of the book is still riveting.

Excellent reading/performance

Mr. Hunt has an ability to switch from Scots to British to Queenslander stockman and the occasional staccato Aboriginal English flawlessly. Hearing "A Town Like Alice" after so many years was heart warming. Thank you, Mr. Hunt.

Great Story!

I am sorry I've missed out so long on this author-going to check out his other works. The audio production was incredible. I was really there with them! And after all isn't that why we love fiction?

Memorable

A Town Like Alice is a book that leaves you feeling you'll never be the same. It is tender, inspiring, and overcoming. It shows a picture of life lived on a grand scale, even in the midst of suffering.

Perfectly Wonderful

A moving, leisurely paced, inspiring story read with grace and finesse. Human endurance under terrible pressure leads to a satisfying, unforced conclusion. Highly recommended!

Survival

A young woman, during WWII, in Japanese occupied Malaya, led a group of women and children, who traveled 1200 miles before finding a place where they would live and work until the end of WWII.

There were 800 women and children when the long and arduous journey began. When they found a place to settle, only 30 of them survived.

While working in a Japanese rice paddy, two men passed by who were also prisoners of war in Malaya. They worked as mechanics and fixed anything on four wheels. The woman was quite interested in the gentleman and during one of their infrequent discussions was told that he lived in Alice, Australia. She informed him that she would be returning to England when the war was over.

The man and woman became great friends. However, the woman was always seen carrying a baby on her hip. The man understood this to mean that she was married.

The men passed through often and the Australian would bring things such as coffee, sugar and other commodities that were extremely in short supply because of the war. He over stepped his stealing one too many times and had to pay an extraordinary price.

The narrator was great and made the book a great listen. The novel had no guns, soldiers fighting and killing. Instead, it explained how two people met and their journey through life.There were no complaints about the concentration camp that the man lived in. However, the Japanese had no place for the women and children to be properly housed and they were left to travel mile after mile on foot, attempting to find food, water and a place to rest and sleep for a short time before continuing on their journey to find a camp in the wind for women and children.

A Great Story

I read a Reader's Digest version of this many years ago and when I found this Audible Unabridged version i knew I needed to listen to it. I loved it so much and will more than likely listen to it next year.